Sacramento

Sacramento stands at the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers in the northern end of California's Central Valley, the flat agricultural heartland between the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada. The city boomed almost overnight as the supply hub of the 1849 Gold Rush, the gateway where miners arriving by river headed east into the foothills, and it became the state capital in 1854.

The valley location made Sacramento a hub of rivers, railroads, and farms — the western terminus of the first transcontinental railroad and the marketing center for one of the most productive agricultural regions on Earth. Low and flat, laced with rivers and sloughs and protected by levees, the city has had to manage flood risk throughout its history. It anchors a metro of more than two million at the heart of the valley.

• California
  The most populous U.S. state, admitted 1850 located in
• Los Angeles
  The second-largest U.S. city, on the Southern California coast same state
• San Diego
  A Pacific port at California's southwest corner same state
• San Francisco
  A hilly peninsula city on the Golden Gate same state